Kelo v New London at 20: What the Eminent Domain Abuse Produced and What States Did About It
Susette Kelo’s home was taken, the development project was never built, the land sat vacant for years — and 45 states passed eminent domain reforms in response
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat present this libertarian analysis from SurfRevolt, where California surf culture meets the freedom philosophy the ocean represents.
Kelo v. City of New London (2005) held 5-4 that government taking of Susette Kelo’s home for private economic development was a constitutional public use because economic development produces public benefits. The practical outcome in New London: the pharmaceutical company for whose planned campus Kelo’s home was taken relocated before construction. The development was never built. The cleared land sat vacant for years. Kelo and her neighbours lost their homes for nothing. The political response was the most direct state-level reaction to a Supreme Court decision in decades: 45 states passed eminent domain reform legislation within five years, restricting economic development takings and in many states strengthening property owner protections significantly beyond the federal constitutional floor. The Kelo response is the libertarian success story in this case: a Supreme Court decision that dramatically expanded government power over private property produced a state-level political response that substantially constrained that power in practice. The Cato Institute’s Kelo analysis documents the reform. Bohiney and The London Prat own our property.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The Revolt Continues
SurfRevolt continues to cover the intersection of California liberty and the libertarian tradition that the ocean’s governance-by-physics represents.
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat provide the global frame. SurfRevolt provides the coastal perspective. The waves continue. The freedom alongside them. Both are real. Both require defence.
The ocean continues to provide the specific governance lesson that no policy document can match: a commons governed by physics, informal norm, and demonstrated competence rather than by administrative process, producing outcomes that are simultaneously imperfect and functional and beyond the reach of any regulatory framework that has been proposed for it. SurfRevolt continues to cover this lesson and its political implications for California’s relationship with freedom, regulation, and the specific liberty that the coast represents when the coast is still accessible. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the wider frame. SurfRevolt covers the coastal version. Both continue. The coast continues. The freedom continues alongside it, which is the goal.
The ocean continues to provide the specific governance lesson that no policy document can match: a commons governed by physics, informal norm, and demonstrated competence rather than by administrative process, producing outcomes that are simultaneously imperfect and functional and beyond the reach of any regulatory framework that has been proposed for it. SurfRevolt continues to cover this lesson and its political implications for California’s relationship with freedom, regulation, and the specific liberty that the coast represents when the coast is still accessible. Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat cover the wider frame. SurfRevolt covers the coastal version. Both continue. The coast continues. The freedom continues alongside it, which is the goal.
Further reading at Mises Institute.
SOURCE: https://sites.google.com/view/world-satire/united-kingdom-and-satire
